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TEST & MEASUREMENT WORLD: Mil/Aero venue showcases general-purpose instruments

Autotestcon 2007, which took place from 17 to 20 September in Baltimore (Maryland), provided Test & Measurement companies a chance to highlight their instrument offerings for commercial as well as military applications. ZTEC Instruments (www.ztecinstruments.com) introduced its ZT4610 VXI digital oscilloscope, which targets high-density aerospace and defense ATE applications.

Aeroflex (www.aeroflex.com) announced its Synthetic Multifunction Adaptable Reconfigurable Test Environment (SMART^E), which includes hardware, software, test practices, and support, based on the company’s fifthgeneration synthetic technology. It provides synthetic test systems for testing radar, satellite payloads, as well as T/R (transmit/receive) modules and subsystems for phased-array radar antennas. The company also announced a modular PXI RF test platform for wireless applications up to 6 GHz. With this platform, the company is targeting not only military/aerospace test applications but commercial cellular ones as well.

Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com) released the latest version of the Agilent Virtual Rack platform, which provides an interactive way for aerospace/ defense companies to create flexible system frameworks with minimal effort in the integration, automation, maintenance, and evolution of test systems. Metrikos (http://huntron com/products/nfsa.htm), in conjunction with Huntron (www.huntron.com), demonstrated its patent-pending near-field signature-analysis technology, which supports close proximity sensing of EM fields emanating from active or passive circuitry; its noncontact measurement capability could make it particularly useful for troubleshooting conformally coated boards in military applications.

SenarioTek (www.senariotek.com) highlighted its new technology for correcting RF test-system calibration errors due to environmental changes— including temperature changes—as well as changes related to repeatability issues in switches, cables, and connectors. Geotest - Marvin Test Systems (www.geotestinc.com) presented a number of PXI products, including a standards module, a differential digitizer, 3U and 6U chassis, a signal generator, a digital I/O instrument, and controllers. National Instruments (www.ni.com) announced its NI PXIe-5672, an RF vector signal generator that delivers signal generation from 250 kHz to 2.7 GHz, 20 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth, and real-time data streaming at up to 25M samples/sec.

Keithley Instruments (www.keithley. com) announced two additions to its Series 2600 SourceMeter instruments for semiconductor parametric analysis and testing. The Models 2635 and 2636 provide resolutions as fine as 1 fA to support the test of semiconductor, optoelectronic, and nanotechnology devices. The company also highlighted its new Series 3700 system-switch/multimeter and plug-in card family. JTAG Technologies (www.jtag.com) introduced its ProDFT service for testability analysis and report generation. A ProDFT report equips the user to optimize a board or system design for testability as well as for rapid preparation the tests using JTAG Technologies’ ProVision development suite.

Data Translation (www.datx.com) highlighted its new TEMPpoint series of temperature-measurement instruments. Pickering Interfaces (www.pickeringtest. com) showcased its new highperformance, high-density RF switching systems, which are usable to 3.5 GHz. GaGe Applied Technologies (www.gage-applied.com) exhibited the new Cobra CompuScope family of 8-bit, 1- or 2G-sample/sec digitizers. The company also highlighted its LapScope PCI expansion chassis, which enable laptop computers to accommodate GaGe’s CompuScope and CompuGen cards.

Amrel (www.amrel.com) introduced its eController with Ethernet, which controls the company’s eLoad electronic loads and ePower power supplies while consolidating an arbitrarywaveform generator, a waveform digitizer, and a waveform editor within a single graphical user interface. Intepro Systems (www.inteproate.com) displayed its first LXI-based power-supply test system, the I-9500LXI, which targets the test of power converters under 1000W.

Diagnosys (www.diagnosys.com) displayed its PinPoint II, PinPoint UDA, and S500 functional test systems. Teradyne (www.teradyne.com) exhibited its Spectrum CTS commercial avionics test system as well as the Spectrum- 9100 functional test platform for factory and depot environments.